VIDEO: Morecambe election candidates gather at prom Q&A

The Morecambe and Lunesdale general election candidates interviewed by BBC Radio Lancashire's Mike Stevens on the promenade on Wednesday. Left to right; David Morris (Conservative), Matt Severn (Liberal Democrat), Vikki Singleton (Labour), Cait Sinclair (Green) and Robert Gillespie (UKIP).

Published:10:57Thursday 18 May 2017

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Morecambe general election candidates were quizzed at an outdoor event on the seafront.

The Morecambe and Lunesdale general election candidates pictured after the BBC Radio Lancashire interview. Left to right, Matt Severn (Liberal Democrat), Vikki Singleton (Labour), Cait Sinclair (Green) and Robert Gillespie (UKIP). David Morris, the Conservative candidate, is not pictured because he left immediately after the broadcast.

The event, held under a canopy opposite the Winter Gardens, was broadcast live on BBC Radio Lancashire.

Mr Morris, who has been MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale since 2010, caused a stir with the small crowd of onlookers when he was the one candidate to leave immediately following Wednesday afternoon’s broadcast.

Members of the crowd called after him to “Don’t be shy!” and “Speak to your constituents!” as he walked away.

Earlier, Radio Lancashire reporter Mike Stevens sat with the candidates in a pop-up outdoor ‘living room’ to ask them questions from the public.

On the state of the NHS, Mr Morris said the Royal Lancaster Infirmary had “gone from strength to strength” under the Conservatives.

“It is now rated good. It’s only one mark up from being outstanding,” he said.

Matt Severn said the Lib Dems would put £6bn a year into the NHS funded by a one penny in the pound rise in income tax, and that Mr Morris was “downplaying the pressures on the NHS”.

Labour candidate Mrs Singleton said people were “struggling to get access to their GP” and said her party would invest £37bn into the NHS paid for by tax rises on the top five per cent of earners.

Cait Sinclair said: “We can’t survive without the environment and we need the NHS as well. It needs more funding and it needs more training.”

And Mr Gillespie of UKIP said his party would produce “10,000 new doctors on the front line and 20,000 new nurses” paid for by cutting the foreign aid bill.

BBC Radio Lancashire is hosting similar Q&As across the entire county and will be in Lancaster talking to the Lancaster and Fleetwood candidates on May 31 from 8am.